The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1887-04-16
HOW TO USE SALT.
One OF the Very Best Things Used on ths
Farm When Properly Applied.

One of the Very Best Things Used on the
Farm When Properly Applied.
1t should rot be used on cold, heavy
or moist soils, and if any one does, he
will be disappointed in the result, as
its tendency is to keep the ground cool
and moist. 1t will do such soil more
harm than good. 1t should not be cast
upon very young and tender plants of
any kind, as it will be very sure to kill
them.
Judgment should be employed in
using so strong and active an agent,
but l think, indeed 1 know, that some
men do not use any. l had friend
who heard me in a lecture recommend
salt on onion beds, when 1 strictly
urged that it should be dragged or
worked in before the seed was sown;
but forgetting what l said, or thinking
it would make no difference, he did not
salt until the onions were about two
inches high, and it killed them all;
which he laid to me, and meant to give
ME fearful scOlding, but sowing an
other root crop that turned out splen-
dldly, he gave up the scolding. Had
he waited until the tops were as big as
large pipe-stem, he might have cOv-
cred the ground an inch deep, and his
onions would have done finely.
Onions should be sown on the same
ground year after year, as they con-
tinue to improve. There are yards a
hundred years old, and their yield
would astonish the common grower.
The tops when cut off should be scat
tered over the ground (do not leave
them in lumps), as they make the best
food for the growing onions; then
sow salt, and then put on coat of
MANURE.
l do not think salt is much of fer
tilizer in itself, though plants take it
up, as you can tell by tasting and by
the stitfening and glazing of straw of a
plant grown in sailed ground. l think
it acts upon and assimilates the gross
matter in the soil so as to make it
available food.
learned the use of salt from the late
General Wadsworth, who told me he
sowed from stventy-five to one hundred
barrels on his home farm every fall, at
the rate of two to the acre. | followed
his rule, but sowed in the spring. as L
plOwed then, and every spring put two
barrels to the acre on all my plowed
ground as long as l kept it up-usually
four years-and dragged it III.
Having hillside pasture which could
not be easily plowed, l thought | would
try salt, which did on one-half of it,
casting on also what little wood-ashes
l had, and the result was surprising.
1t killed all the weeds but the thistlcs,
and caused rapid and great growth of
grass, and / doubt if one of my horses,
cattle or sheep went on to the unsalted
part to feed during the whole season.
The next season l sowed the other part
in the same way, and so on for two or
three years, until thoroughly redeemed.
Wheat, grass, onions, potatoes and
most root crops will stand ton and a
half to the acre, though it is lot neces-
sary to use this quantity, as they will
thrive we'll with less.
In conclusion lett me say, my long ex-
perience in its use has fastened the
conviction in my mind, whatever the
rest of the world may say, that used
under proper conditions, in a proper
way, and for certain purposes and
, ends, there is nothing equal to it, and
that it is one of the very best things
used on the farm.-C. T.. He,CeS, in
Country Gentleman.